Mark Mast and the sixteen folks who joined him on this trip are headed home today.  They face some challenges but prayerfully will arrive home safe and sound.  Pray for them.

Why do we do GRACE Ministries trips?  I could suggest several things but two are prominent – to see folks saved and to make disciples.  We saw at least four salvations last Saturday as the twenty houses were dedicated to the glory of God.  Praise the Lord!

Mark Mast led the most successful, numerically speaking, VBS GRACE Ministries has ever hosted.  However, the greater news is that a number of children prayed to receive Jesus as their personal Savior – awesome!  Praise the Lord!

Pastor, do they really get saved?  Good question.  As Louise Mason & I were driving back to the mission house this past Sunday afternoon, we saw Andreas going into the gate leading to his house which is a double wide built by a GRACE team years ago.  I do not remember all who worked on it but I do remember Tyrone Crawley was the chief architect and lead builder.  I also remember that Clara Broadus and Bethany Hatcher invested a lot of time into the children in the family with Lydia being the oldest child.

I pulled the vehicle over to speak to Andreas and he was dressed in a sports coat and slacks and was holding a Bible.  I asked if he had been to church and he answered “yes” and told us where.  He then told us that he had preached that morning!  Amazing!

In the process of building the house for Andreas’ family and ministering to his children, he prayed to accept Jesus as his personal Savior.  He is now involved in church and preaching the Gospel.  Hallelujah!  That is why we do what we do!

Thank God for the houses built, the food/clothes distribution, the medical clinics, et cetera but praise His holy name for those who receive the gift of salvation.

We serve an awesome God!

It is approaching 11:00AM and I just spoke to Tom Compagner via the phone.  All of the Michiganders arrived in Grand Rapids safe and sound so I can only assume they all arrived home i.e. Grand Rapids, Holland, Zeeland, Kalamazoo, et cetera safely.  Praise the Lord!

I appreciate Steve Compagner driving the Michigan team members to Detroit for the outbound flight and then being at the Grand Rapids airport to pick them up last night.  Steve is not worth much but he proved to be valuable in this instance!  LOL!

Mark Mast and sixteen others remain in Guatemala until tomorrow.  They did ministry with the Potter’s House in the city and in Panimaquin yesterday.  Mark said it was a blessed day.  They travel home tomorrow and their neck of the woods has seen considerable snow fall in the past couple of days.  That could be challenging as they drive six hours or so getting home.  A bigger challenge may be in the “protests” that are supposed to take place at the major airports in the States tomorrow.  Prayerfully, neither of these things will hinder their travel plans.

Samuel & Reina’s baby remains hospitalized.  She is no longer on oxygen.  Keep praying.

Thanks for being a part of GRACE Ministries.

Why no Saturday or Sunday entries?  Absolutely no success in getting online and staying online.  Sorry about that!  I have tried but to no avail.

It is now 5:00AM and the first five folks have headed to the airport.  The remaining 21 folks leaving today will leave the mission house around 9:30AM.  Mark Mast and the fine folks from Canada will spend the next two days doing ministry and enjoying some time of relaxation.

Saturday was spent dedicating the 20 houses and visiting Casa Aleluya.  A very uneventful day.  Yesterday saw us go to church.  Some folks attended Communion & Faith where Mark Mast preached while the others went to Central Bible New Life (I think that is the name).  The afternoon was the usual lunch at Las Antorchas and shopping.

Last night’s share time was special.  What a sweet time!  Again, one of those “you had to be there” type services.

Samuel’s wife, Reina, came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon.  The baby remains hospitalized.  She does have Down Syndrome.  Pray for this family.

I really appreciate those who have read this blog this week in order to keep up with this team.  Obviously, we very much appreciate those who have prayed for us.  Pray that we will have uneventful trips home today.

Tough day!  Word came just before our morning devotional that Samuel’s wife, Reina, had been taken to the national hospital with some complications related to her pregnancy.  We later found out that her water had broken and they were taking the baby via c-section.   The baby is about four weeks premature.  She was born around 9:00AM.  Samuel still has not seen the baby and he only saw Reina for five minutes and that was six hours after the baby was born.  It was not until then that he even knew the baby was a girl.  Tico, Rita, & Juan Marcos provided great help in getting information for us.  The baby is in ICU and has problems.  Samuel is scheduled to meet with the doctor for the first time tomorrow morning at 8:30AM.  Pray!

All twenty houses are completed!  The tile work is done!  VBS went over the 400 mark today!  A team painted at the seminary and built some cabinets too.  Great day of work!

Lots of folks for supper tonight (70+) and a great time of fellowship.  Thanks for checking on us and keep on praying!

I have not been able to get online at night and I apologize as it hinders the updates.  Our Thursday was a really blessed day.  It began with Rex Looney leading us in worship and then Dr. Mike Clark from Casa Aleluya brought a great message from the Word.  It was one of those “you had to be there” moments when God showed up.  Praise the Lord!

The tile team basically finished getting the tile laid and it is now ready for the grout – black grout!  VBS was a huge success with 350 children and 150 mothers present.  Mark Mast has done an awesome job of leading that ministry.  The building teams did well with 15 houses now completely finished and four more basically ready for the cement.  Micha Gerber led a group of young adults in the building of a couple of those houses and they did a nice job.

It was pizza night and I think there were 1,000 plus folks in the mission house.  Crazy night but a ton of fun!

Thanks for checking on us.  Everyone is well.  Keep praying!

Sorry for no entry last night but we did not have internet service.  All is well.  The team built an additional 7 houses yesterday, put cement in 7 houses, and I think 6 or so are completely finished.  Tony Hacker led a team that laid probably 950 square feet of tile in a church yesterday.  Great fellowship with a lot of guests at supper last night.  It’s all good!  Hopefully, a more complete update will be available on Thursday night – depends on the internet service.  Thanks for praying and checking on this team!

Good first day of ministry.  We had four teams building houses and eight were built up to the point of being ready for the concrete and five of those received the concrete.  I think three are completely finished but I could be wrong on that one.

Supper was good and the evening was spent with folks reading, playing cards, talking, et cetera.  I guess the highlight of the evening was Luke Esselink (Canada) smashing soft drink cans on his forehead.  What’s up with that?

Tomorrow promises to be another great day with building, VBS, laying tile, et cetera.  Thanks for checking on us and keep praying.  I am going to try and get someone else to enter a post tomorrow night.

Good morning!  It is a little after 5:00AM and the kitchen crew is cooking breakfast and a few folks are beginning to stir.  All is well.  Lord willing, we will update tonight if the net works correctly.

I think this is going to be a great week of ministry!  Twenty of the forty-five North Americans arrived on Saturday for a couple of days of relaxation, sight seeing, et cetera.  I am in that last twenty-five arriving today.

Here is my day thus far – I ask Soy to take me to the airport (first mistake) to catch my 6:00AM Delta flight.  He arrives at the house shortly before 4:10AM – all is good!  However, he drives (second mistake) like a little old lady on a Sunday afternoon i.e. 35 miles per hour – killing me!  He basically “throws” me to the curve when we reach the airport at 4:45AM and leaves me to manage my four bags.  Appreciate the help!  No need to hang around and make sure everything is good to go!

No customers at the Delta counter which is good – maybe not!  Flight cancelled!  Only one flight per day out of Atlanta to Guatemala.  (Delta failed to notify me of the cancellation)  One seat on a flight out of Pensacola at 6:35AM which will allow me to make my connection in Atlanta.  No problem – call Soy and have him come take me to Pensacola.  Cell phone?  Why would Soy have his cell phone on?  The rental car agencies in the airport are not open and the taxis do not come until mid-morning.  However, one cab driver just left MOB so the kind lady with Delta calls him and he says that can be back in ten minutes.  We leave MOB headed for PNS shortly after 5:00AM.

Nikklos “preacher man” Kidd is my cab operator/owner.  He tells me that he does not speed – I believe him!  (Does drive faster than Soy!)  Call Delta and ask the lady to hold that plane!  The Lord is good as the traffic in Pensacola is very light and we catch most of the traffic lights on green.  Arrive curbside at 6:20AM.  “Preacher Man” Kidd helps me (unlike Soy) get my four bags to the Delta counter.  (For $180 he should have carried me onto the plane!)  A very kind lady (Marisa) is waiting on me at the Delta counter and hands me my boarding passes and tells me to hurry through TSA.  (Everyone has helped up to this point except – Soy!)  Get through TSA and board the plane – that would be seat E on row 37.  (Can you say next to the last row with an engine view?)

Sitting beside me is a very nice young mother, Kristy, and her nine month old son, Jacob.  For some reason, Jacob wants me to hold him.  He finally tires of me and goes back to his mother and I go to sleep – for about five minutes.  Jacob hits me which awakens me and he wants to sit in my lap.  Life is good!  We are ten minutes or so into the flight when Jacob decides to deposit his last three meals on me!  He did not “spit up” but rather he lost his stomach!  From my chest to my knees!  Nice!  I have never used the “call” button but I did in one frantic sweep as I handed Jacob back to mom!  The Delta attendants were very kind and helped clean me up – even offered me a bottle of liquor!

Kristy was distraught.  She offered me money so I could buy a new shirt in the Atlanta airport.  I demanded an entire outfit!  LOL!   Know what Jacob wants?  To sit in my lap.  Mom said no but I said “sure” and Jacob was asleep in less than 30 seconds.  (I had phenergan with me – just kidding!)  And some folks do not believe God has a sense of humor!

P.S. – Could not access the net last night.  Everyone is safe & sound.  The folks who came early fished, zipped, and fed the bears.  The rest of us arrived safely and we did the usual Pollo Campero thing for supper, met briefly, and went to bed.

Deidra sent me an e-mail and said that Soy is sick – cry me a river!  LOL!